Having originally joined the business in 2015 as Global Managing Director, Clare successfully steered Laurence Simons through a Management Buy-Out, which was completed in 2018.
A Yorkshire Tea enthusiast, Clare is also a budding gardener. She lives just outside London with her family and rescue dog Cash.
Education:
Newcastle University, LL.B. (Hons)
Institut d'Études Européennes de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles, LL.M.
Qualified Lumina Spark, Select and Emotion Practitioner
]]>Angela is of Indian heritage and was born and brought up in the UK but lives with her husband and two children in Geneva, Switzerland. Before being based in Switzerland in 2007, Angela worked in Hong Kong and Singapore for 10 years.
Education:
University College London, LL.B. (Honours) College of Law, London, Law Society Finals]]>Away from the world of legal search, Samantha has a passion for all things sporty, as a participant and keen observer. She also consumes anything relating to the study of human behaviour.
Education:
B.A., Communications & Languages Qualified Personal Development Coach ]]>Outside of work, Charles is a keen cook and has a genuine passion for food. He is also a keen sportsman and continues to play as much cricket as he can during the summer months. Charles has also completed a series of distance events for Pancreatic Cancer, including two Olympic distance triathlons and a half marathon.
Education:
University of Manchester, American Studies BPP Waterloo, Graduate Diploma Law University of Law, Legal Practice Course]]>I came onboard at an exciting time of change for LS, inspired by their vision, growth strategy and values, their championing of diversity and inclusion and their focus on employee wellbeing. I already knew the business well and was privileged to be joining a team of such inspiring, ambitious and brilliant people.
I am passionate about driving commercial success through the provision of a first-class employee experience. My role has a broad strategic remit, centred around culture and engagement, equity, diversity and inclusion, reward and recognition, resourcing, and learning and development.
My greatest joy is working for a business which hires for brilliance and celebrates diversity. In addition, contributes to a warm and supportive working environment, focused on employee development and success, where people can bring their authentic selves to work.
A fun fact about me is I lived in New Zealand and used to have a job teaching celebrities to salsa dance.
Education:
L.L.B. (Hons), University of Glasgow CIPD Level 7 (in progress)]]>April is very passionate about animals and has a large number of cats and dogs!
]]>
Cameron is a fitness enthusiast and has a passion for endurance sports. Over recent years he has completed several long-distance runs, bike rides, and marathon swims. In 2019 he completed the Zurich Ironman with another in Barcelona planned for late 2022.
Education:
Oxford Brookes University, B.A., Law]]>I have been a Lumina Learning Practitioner for 3 years and it is a great way to get to know someone better and engage into a conversation that will shed a new light on how they behave at work, their motivation and aspirations, and how they handle tricky situations!
Recruitment is a fantastic way to learn more about the world we live in: you learn so much by talking to clients and candidates coming from different countries, industries and walks of life! It also gives you the best feeling when after weeks of team work you find the perfect match between a role, a company/law firm and a candidate. It is then a real pleasure to stay in touch with all parties involved and see in the longer term how everyone is evolving and growing.
I am always planning my next trip abroad (as we speak Baja California) while remembering the previous ones (going backwards Kerala, Atacama, Namib desert...)!!
]]>In his spare time, Laurent has a keen passion for travel and is currently planning his next trip to Baja, California, Mexico.
Education: Nice University, Post Master's Degree KEDGE Business School, Business Degree]]>There are many things I enjoy about my role, but the thing that stands out to me is the people - I work with some incredible people and the fact that we have many employees overseas makes them even more interesting to get to know!
While living in Manchester, I was walking under a viaduct and accidentally bumped into someone getting out of a taxi... it wasn't until I was a few meters away that I saw the paps and realised it was only Kylie Minogue!
]]>Since she joined us, Jess has been instrumental in our recent office move to 73 Watling Street and has led on a number of projects, including our European Off site. Jess has also acted as our quasi "company secretary" and attends all of our quarterly Management Board Meetings. Alongside her role at Laurence Simons, Jess is studying to become a qualified company secretary to further support her role.
Recently Jess has a newfound love for exercise, nutrition and lifting weights. She goes to the gym regularly and is always trying to find new ways of keeping fit.
Education:
BPP Law School, Graduate Diploma, Law The Manchester Metropolitan University, B.A., Philosophy]]>I qualified as Lumina Practitioner in 2019 and beside the coaching aspect for candidates, I mainly use it for final selection in recruitment processes. While technical skills as well as the level of experience might beobvious, the EQ gets more and more important for clients. This is something we are able to access!
I work as Legal & Compliance Advisor for nearly 20 years and this said, I have a vast network and know a lot of my clients from the beginning of their career, not seldomly did I place them in their current roles. What I love about my job, beside the international and intercultural work environment, is the challenge to bring the right people together. We do people's business and as much as it can be challenging, it can be very rewarding in the same time!
I am a proud father of two girls, I exercise every morning as I love to cook and eat well and I am a passionate supporter of Eintracht Frankfurt - we even had Attila, our eagle mascot to host our office opening party! Or one could build in the fact that I met Father Christmas in Lappland and had some beers with him.]]>
Nico is the proud father of two girls, a keen sportsman and an avid supporter of Eintracht Frankfurt. Such an enthusiastic supporter, in fact, that he managed to persuade the club to lend their eagle mascot Attitla to attend the opening of our Frankfurt office!
Education:
Kiel, Germany, Strasbourg, France, and Miami U.S., Law studies Volljurist, German bar exam ]]>Founded in 1988, we are a specialist global legal, compliance and privacy search firm. We work with some of the largest and fastest-growing businesses in the world, providing them with the best and most sought-after talent.
With offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva, Dubai, and Sao Paulo we have an international footprint like no other legal search firm, enabling us to form the most suitable team for every search and to use our different offices to best effect.
We enjoy trusted and respected relationships with a range of clients by providing the highest standard of service, including many Fortune 500, FTSE 100, and a host of other listed companies around the world.
About the role At Laurence Simons Search, our greatest asset is our people. We are proud of our inspiring and ambitious employees and our kind and collaborative culture where every person can bring their authentic selves to work.
Our small and close-knit team is based across our network of offices in London (HQ), Frankfurt, Paris, Geneva, and Sao Paulo.
This role forms an integral part of the search and selection team and provides generalist support to the business. It provides an opportunity to learn the business inside out, with various progression routes, including a role in the Talent Acquisition & Delivery Team, becoming a Consultant, a long-term career within Business Support or progressing into other areas of our business such as Finance, HR or Marketing.
Key Responsibilities
Business Support:
- Drafting, proofreading, and formatting of documents, including; proposals, job descriptions, candidate shortlists and CVs.
- Researching candidates and companies
- Creating candidate summaries, and client intelligence reports
- Market mapping and candidate reach-outs
- Creating and posting job videos and adverts across all social media channels
- Attending client calls and note-taking
- Reviewing submitted candidate CVs
- Call scheduling, including interviews, client meetings and candidate screening calls
- Receiving phone calls from current or potential clients, candidates, or external service providers.
- Recording and updating the CRM database and data cleansing.
- Providing dedicated support as part of a search team with consultant(s) and Talent Acquisition team member(s)
Person Specification / Skills and Experience Required:
- Degree educated
- A positive, can-do attitude to work and colleagues
- A curious nature & willingness to learn
- Willingness to go the extra mile
- Strong attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
- Excellent time management and works well under pressure
- Self-motivated and proactive
- Tech-savvy
Founded in 1988, we are a specialist global legal, compliance and privacy search firm. We work with some of the largest and fastest-growing businesses in the world, providing them with the best and most sought-after talent.
With offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva, Dubai, and Sao Paulo we have an international footprint like no other legal search firm, enabling us to form the most suitable team for every search and to use our different offices to best effect.
We enjoy trusted and respected relationships with a range of clients by providing the highest standard of service, including many Fortune 500, FTSE 100, and a host of other listed companies around the world.
About the role At Laurence Simons Search, our greatest asset is our people. We are proud of our inspiring and ambitious employees and our kind and collaborative culture where every person can bring their authentic selves to work.
Our small and close-knit team is based across our network of offices in London (HQ), Frankfurt, Paris, Geneva, and Sao Paulo.
This role forms an integral part of the search and selection team and provides generalist support to the business. It provides an opportunity to learn the business inside out, with various progression routes, including a role in the Talent Acquisition & Delivery Team, becoming a Consultant, a long-term career within Business Support or progressing into other areas of our business such as Finance, HR or Marketing.
Key Responsibilities
Business Support:
- Drafting, proofreading, and formatting of documents, including; proposals, job descriptions, candidate shortlists and CVs.
- Researching candidates and companies
- Creating candidate summaries, and client intelligence reports
- Market mapping and candidate reach-outs
- Creating and posting job videos and adverts across all social media channels
- Attending client calls and note-taking
- Reviewing submitted candidate CVs
- Call scheduling, including interviews, client meetings and candidate screening calls
- Receiving phone calls from current or potential clients, candidates, or external service providers.
- Recording and updating the CRM database and data cleansing.
- Providing dedicated support as part of a search team with consultant(s) and Talent Acquisition team member(s)
Person Specification / Skills and Experience Required:
- Degree educated
- A positive, can-do attitude to work and colleagues
- A curious nature & willingness to learn
- Willingness to go the extra mile
- Strong attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
- Excellent time management and works well under pressure
- Self-motivated and proactive
- Tech-savvy
Education:
BA, Economics, Dehli University Diploma in Business Administration and Management, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education]]>Anu has a passion for Feng Shui and previously worked as a Consultant in this field. Located in Dubai, where she lives with her family, Anu can read and write in Arabic fluently.
Education:
Dehli University, B.A., Economics ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Diploma in Business Administration and Management]]>The main thing I love about my role is the wonderful team of people I work with here at LSS. Together they create a very dynamic, exciting and supportive workplace. Another reason I love my role is that each day I feel that I make a difference, make some small improvement, which is very rewarding.
Fun fact about me, I once came down a mountain in a snow plough - not something I'm planning to repeat!
]]>Outside work, Ruth enjoys spending time with her family, where she is the resident chef, taxi driver, tutor and cheerleader for her two boys!
Education:
Business Studies Graduate CIMA Qualified Accountant]]>
Alex has a genuine passion for human rights law and democracy. As a child, he moved to Germany from Poland, where he witnessed a peaceful transformation from a socialist to a democratic country.
Education:
Goethe-University, Staatsexamen (First legal state exam) Law Legal Clerkship, Staatsexamen (Second legal state exam) Law]]>Henry is a keen sportsman and football fan and has had the rare opportunity to grace the hallowed turf of Old Trafford as an 11-year-old!
Education:
B.A. (Hons), History, University of Nottingham]]>Henry is a keen sportsman and football fan and has had the rare opportunity to grace the hallowed turf of Old Trafford as an 11-year-old!
Education:
University of Nottingham, B.A. (Hons), History ]]>Away from work, Ben has a keen interest in human psychology.
Education:
University of Hull, B.A., Human Geography]]>Weronika has a keen interest in writing, literature and history. Originally from Poland, she is currently working on writing a book on her family history which will be a comprehensive family tree, the history and life of each family member and an archive of photos.
Education:
UCL, Bachelors Degree, Philosophy
]]>Outside of work, Tim is a keen football fan and once had the opportunity to meet Jurgen Klopp.
Education:
Frankfurt University of Applied Scientists, B.A., Business Administration]]>Founded in 1988, we are a specialist global legal, compliance and privacy search firm. We work with some of the largest and fastest-growing businesses in the world, providing them with the best and most sought-after talent.
With offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva, Dubai, and Sao Paulo we have an international footprint like no other legal search firm, enabling us to form the most suitable team for every search and to use our different offices to best effect.
We enjoy trusted and respected relationships with a range of clients by providing the highest standard of service, including many Fortune 500, FTSE 100, and a host of other listed companies around the world.
Position Summary
Laurence Simons’ Talent Acquisition & Delivery (“TAD”) function is headed up by Samantha Knowles. We are currently looking to hire an experienced researcher or recruiter to support, assist and develop within the TAD function. The successful candidate will work closely with the Search team in the execution of global search mandates. Laurence Simons currently has offices in seven countries and transacts on searches globally, with a track record spanning UK&I, EMEA, USA, LATAM and APAC. Members of the TAD function frequently support on searches in a variety of locations, working with both privately-held and publicly-listed international businesses. We pride ourselves on providing a close-knit, warm working environment, even when working across our global offices. This position will be a hybrid role, based between home and our Cannon Street office. We are also open to supporting fully remote working.Key Responsibilities
Associates in the TAD function fundamentally support the Consultant team on the cultivation, execution and delivery of search mandates. Your duties and responsibilities may include: Candidate Generation & Curation:- Identifying and documenting the target universe of companies/law firms relevant to a search
- Developing the talent landscape from the target universe
- Drafting an interesting, articulate and compelling message to the market
- Spotting and approaching the best talent for initial screening calls
- Consistently conducting screening calls via video to assess and validate fit based on skills, experience and emotional intelligence. This enables a deeper understanding of the candidate and a justification of progression to shortlist, or not
- Conducting detailed screening calls which capture career trajectory, reporting lines, geographical experience, career aspirations, personal situation, compensation, expectations and personality/attributes
- Being a competent CRM user – able to register vacancies, add candidates and clients, amend search milestones and conduct a thorough candidate search
- Being creative about candidate generation and curation – LinkedIn, referrals, advertising, Invenias, marketing etc.
- Providing the consultant with a detailed and data-driven progress update and an overview of the search and insightful market trends
- Creating, developing and maintaining detailed and accurate documentation required for each search, in line with stakeholder expectations
- Creating, developing and maintaining detailed client-facing search documentation where required in line with the client’s agreed expectations
- Confidently guiding, steering and mentoring business support and more junior members of TAD in line with the expectations of the search and in line with our corporate values
- Conducting frequent calls with your growing candidate network, which are search and non-search related
- Conducting at least 15 candidate interviews a week independently through VC
- Consistently managing expectations, providing prompt and detailed feedback to the consultant and team on role reception
- Developing an appropriate shortlist of at least 4 candidates
- Proactively, diligently, responsively, showing leadership and taking pride in your work.
- Engaging and building rapport with stakeholders and customers across multiple cultures
- Signposting active candidate(s) to the business in the Friday Finish
- Sharing market intelligence and insights gained from calls with the wider business
- You will be expected to demonstrate an interest and awareness in prospective clients as the consultants move towards the launch of a search process. You will be provided with Client Intelligence Reports produced by the Business Support team and be expected to conduct your own research on potential clients.
- You will be included in initial client kick-off calls and on-going client update calls, where you will be expected to be able to contribute where appropriate. You may also be expected to conduct client calls directly where the consultant is unable to attend.
- You will be expected to present candidates at the shortlist stage of a search, providing both summary comments of a candidate’s experience along with a more in-depth view of their wider profile.
- In partnership with your consultant and business support associate, taking the leading role in document management, working with Business Support to ensure key documents, including candidate CV, CV summaries and potentially research summaries are produced to the highest standard for client review.
- Ensuring that throughout the search you are providing timely updates to the consultant on search progress including producing key documentation.
- Developing a deep understanding of our CRM and Client Portal system, allowing you to best manage a search through this system, with the support of our Business Support team.
- Acting as a mentor and guide, advising more junior members of TAD and Business Support functions.
- Assisting with the screening of potential hires to the TAD function.
- Taking ownership of key strategic business projects (including process improvement, business development initiatives and networking events).
- Being prepared to lead on and contribute ideas and opinions to team and company-wide discussions relating to TAD.
Candidate Profile
To be successful, you should:- Be a well-rounded and seasoned professional, having gained experience in either a retained or contingent search business, most likely within the professional services industry. Ideally you will have had wide exposure to managing candidates and clients. [not sure if managing isn’t right on the client side? if not, then I’d insert ‘dealing with’ before clients]
- Have experience of working in other jurisdictions especially in UK&I, EMEA, USA and APAC. Such exposure is highly advantageous, and if not already acquired, you should have an appetite to work globally and bring cultural awareness of working in different jurisdictions.
- Be reliable, have strong attention to detail, be structured and organised, have determination and grit, be persuasive with strong influencing skills, work collaboratively in a team, have a strong commercial optic and a good sense of humour
- Our culture is central to everything we do, ensuring we thrive as a team and that we are all driving in the same direction to achieve our business objectives.
- Our values are: courageous, perceptive, and authentic, enabling us to thrive as a team. To ensure lasting success, you will embody these values and demonstrate them in your behaviours.
What does your role encompass?
My role has a broad strategic remit centred around culture and engagement, equity, diversity and inclusion, reward and recognition, resourcing, and learning and development. I lead the HR team to drive Laurence Simons’ commercial success by providing a first-class employee experience.
What projects are you currently working on?
It’s a busy time for HR at the moment. Current projects include onboarding, competency frameworks and career paths, appraisal systems, recognition and incentives, culture and behavioural standards, reviewing our EDI & Management training and implementing a new Applicant Tracking System. ]]>What do you enjoy about your work?
It’s a privilege to work with a team of such inspiring, ambitious and brilliant people, and we are a courageous business, unafraid to make huge changes.
]]>Angela Floydd (AF): Hi Sarah, it’s great to talk to you today – thanks so much for participating in our Talking Heads series. Could you start by giving us a brief introduction of yourself?
Sarah Marshall (SM): Thanks so much for the opportunity Angela! As you know, I’m a New Zealand and English qualified lawyer. I worked for leading law firms in New Zealand and the UK before moving in-house in the pharmaceutical sector over 13 years ago. Around 10 years ago I relocated from the UK to Switzerland.
I love working in the life sciences industry. It’s a very special and fun place to be a lawyer due to its complex, highly regulated nature. I especially like the exposure it gives me to multiple experts in various scientific and business fields. I’ve been at Alexion since 2014 and lead a superb team who work across Europe, Canada, Japan, Latin America, and the Australia/New Zealand region.
I’m a strong believer in building the next generation of legal leaders. It’s a critical part of any legal leader’s role to develop not just great technical lawyers but emerging leaders, by encouraging them to uncover and develop their own leadership style and voice. I think this can be especially impactful for in-house lawyers. To be constructive and proactive legal business partners in cross-functional teams, lawyers need an agile skill set, a strategic outlook and an executive presence. But what does that mean, exactly? In practice, it can be difficult for lawyers to develop these skills without some help, especially early on in their careers.
AF: How did your passion for developing the next generation of lawyers originate?
SM: I’ve always been intrigued by leadership development, and I’ve come to understand that leadership really is an ongoing journey rather than a destination. My own journey was enriched by my participation in an excellent leadership programme at Alexion in 2019. This ‘Purpose-Driven Leadership Program’ opened my eyes to the importance of my own story in my leadership development and how I show up as a leader.
Most in-house lawyers want to contribute to the business beyond typical lawyer tasks. We want to help achieve business objectives and we take pride in our shared goals. You may want to be an independent trusted adviser and proactive business leader who helps to shape strategy. But how do you get there?
We expect in-house lawyers to be technically excellent, and we also tell them to ‘be strategic’, to ‘be a business partner’, to ‘step back and look at the big picture’, to ‘develop executive presence’ and so on. But we don’t say how to do that, nor explore why this is easier or more natural for some lawyers than others. So, I was inspired to kick-start leadership capability development in our Alexion global legal team. Working with FiveandCo, we created a programme tailored to our legal leaders, with two different streams: one for ‘Emerging’, and the other for ‘Experienced’, leaders. The programme was also designed to enhance peer-to-peer connections in our teams across different countries, encouraging connection in small groups and creating a safe space for folks to share their own stories and experiences, and help each other.
AF: What set this programme apart? For example, how did the ‘Experienced’ and ‘Emerging’ streams differ?
SM: The programme was specifically designed for our global legal team and the roles of Alexion lawyers. The two different streams worked well. The Emerging Leaders’ content was focused on the beginning of the leadership journey. These teams talked about the concept of leadership and building self-awareness practically and insightfully. They also talked about effective communication, in general and also with specifics, such as giving legal advice or difficult conversations. The idea was to optimise different spoken and written communication styles and flex between them. These teams also covered stakeholder management: building connections, prioritising stakeholders, developing tools to manage multiple people and task demands.
The Experienced Leaders group learned about the concept of Enterprise leadership and how this is different from legal functional leadership. This group also explored what it means to ‘hold the room’ - capturing attention and influencing behaviour through effective communication and presentation. The Experienced leaders group also spent time diving into their own stories to build clear narratives about their own personal impact on the business beyond their functional legal expertise.
AF: Why do you think a tailored programme for lawyers is so important?
SM: In my opinion, it’s absolutely crucial! There’s a natural expectation that lawyers should act as business partners when they move into an in-house role. Being able to influence without authority is essential for in-house lawyers, but we don’t always tell lawyers how to do that, or what it even means. In short, it’s the ability to make others act, think, or behave without having any formal power over them. For an in-house lawyer this could mean asking that a business project be modified or even stopped to manage legal risk; or leading a cross-functional project or initiative.
The unique nature of the in-house lawyer’s role requires an excellent technical expert who is independent and objective and protects the interests of the company, but who has also established and maintains close connections with their business partners. This can be a fine balance. These days, many general counsels and CLOs are recognised business leaders as well as legal leaders. But these people already operate at the highest levels of companies. I believe that we should do more to cultivate business leadership capability for lawyers much earlier in their careers.
AF: Self-awareness is key here and being receptive to feedback. We don’t always know our own blind spots! At Laurence Simons, we’ve used Lumina Learning, a psychometric tool that our CEO introduced to our business. It’s been a fantastic tool for us internally and in our search processes, as it helps us understand different personas at play.
SM: I totally agree - uncovering some of my own blind spots has been part of my own leadership journey! With FiveandCo we used the ‘5 Voices’ methodology. This is a simple framework for self-awareness in leadership which has been widely used across teams at Alexion. The 5 voices rank in ascending order from ‘quietest’ to ‘loudest’, and they represent personality types and working styles: empathetic/nurturer, visionary/creative, rational/guardian, persuasive/connector, and ambitious/pioneer. We all possess all 5 voices, but one or two will be more dominant. We had a lot of ‘guardians’ in our team which is common amongst lawyers as this voice is detail-orientated, structured, reliable. But we also had connectors and pioneers, and this made for some great debate. I like the 5 Voices framework because it starts with looking inward: what are my strongest and weakest leadership voices? It also looks outward: how does my voice impact my interactions with others? What is it like to be on the other side of me?
AF: Lumina uses colour to represent these different approaches. “Blue” is conscientious, discipline driven energy and where we often see lawyers have a strong aspect, which corresponds to the guardian voice. The most effective legal leaders know how to utilise their other aspects too and not be dominated by one approach which can lead to overplaying a strength.
SM: Absolutely, a combination of these capabilities is necessary for leaders as well as the ability to draw on the other voices and flex leadership style in different situations. In the same way, a combination of different voices can help to create a high performing team.
Lawyers operating at executive management level must have excellent hard legal skills but also excel at an interpersonal level to build lasting trust-based relationships. A lot of this is based on instinct, and individuals’ on-the-spot ability to alter their approach for different tasks. So, as we’ve said, self-awareness is vital.
I also love the idea that self-awareness enables us to uncover our greatest strengths, not just areas for improvement. If someone is really good at something, could they become world-class at that? Knowing our strengths reinforces positive outcomes and helps build influencing skills.
AF: I couldn’t agree more, opening up and having transparent internal communications and positive connections is a must. Do you think that a lack of focus on leadership development early in careers can be a blocker for junior lawyers to develop into senior leaders?
SM: I do, yes. We need to break down barriers to entry that can stymie junior lawyers by demystifying the skills that are used at the top of the legal profession. I think all of us, but especially new in-house lawyers, gravitate towards tasks we feel comfortable doing. Many junior lawyers prefer the ‘happy place’ of research and contract drafting and don’t think that building connections and developing influence are just as much a part of the job and critical to success over the long term. I think legal leaders owe it to these lawyers to show them how to do that in practical ways to help them develop executive and strategic skills early on.
AF: It sounds like the essence of this strategy is tone from the top with the most senior legal leaders acting as role models, and ‘walking the talk’.
SM: Absolutely – that is exactly what we are aiming for! We created this programme and made it a priority for our teams. We tried to keep it simple and engaging with a structure that would build a peer network and develop tools to cope with leadership challenges along the way. Leadership is a journey and our teams will continue to develop as lawyers and leaders, starting with this excellent foundation.
AF: What’s next as part of the ongoing development of your team?
SM: We have had some fantastic feedback from the team about the programme so far, and we are eager to build on this foundation. I’m especially keen that we help the teams to keep and grow their internal peer to peer connections with the other members of their generation of leaders.
The next topic I’d like to explore with these groups of legal leaders is self-care. All too often in-house lawyers are helpful, hard-working, and committed to always doing their best. I’d like to equip our legal leaders to manage their workloads, priorities and stakeholders for a happy and sustainable life that allows them to focus on what’s important at work (high risk items, development opportunities) and outside work (their true passions!). I’m excited to get into this topic with the teams!
AF: Thank you so much for your insight and your time discussing this issue today – I look forward to future updates!
]]>LS CEO Clare Beresford commented “We are proud to be part of AESC. At Laurence Simons, we aim to deliver consistently the highest possible business standards and our acceptance is verification of our hard work and dedication to acquiring the best legal and compliance talent for our clients. I must thank my team for their on-going commitment to diligence and exceptional service, and joining AESC is a sign of our intention to maintain our position as a leading specialist legal and compliance international search firm.”
As Laurence Simons sustains a period of extensive growth, we will continue to drive industry standards, maintain our service excellence in executive search and provide lasting success for our clients.
If you have any immediate hiring requirements in your legal and compliance functions please reach out to hello@laurencesimons.com
]]>MSD is a global healthcare leader working to help the world be well (the company is known as Merck in Canada and US). Through prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and consumer care and animal health products, MSD operates in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions.
Clare Beresford, CEO at Laurence Simons catches up with Brian to discuss all things career, pandemic, and diversity related.
Clare Beresford (CB): Good morning Brian. Thank you for taking the time to chat to me today. Please can you tell us a bit more about yourself?
Brian Daly (BD): I am from the United States. Though my Irish parents convinced their children that we were all truly Irish, my Irish cousins saw through that sham and made it clear to us that we were not the least bit Irish. (They were right of course).
I am lucky to have been living in – and exploring - London for the past 8 years. I will never be admitted to the club of Londoners, I suspect, but life in London has been a great gift.
CB: Please can you tell me about the moment you decided to become a lawyer and your pathway into law?
BD: If I had been a better student of biology and chemistry, I probably would have tried to have been a paediatrician. Alas – I did not have that ability. Reading came easily to me though. My parents did not have the opportunity to go to school beyond the age of 13 or 14, and as a result were flummoxed by the jargon-dense papers they were sometimes asked to sign. They passed those papers on to me to decipher. To this day, my 84-year-old mother delights in having me “do her paperwork” - which means I go through her junk mail. She loves it whenever we intercept a letter that has even the whiff of a fraudulent offer.
CB: When were you most challenged as a lawyer and how did you overcome it?
BD: Most challenged? I am a “general lawyer” – and not a specialist in any one area of the law. At first, I felt I had to develop an impossible level of expertise on every legal issue that could possibly surface. I annoyed so many in that struggle only to realise that I had to learn just enough to be able to ask reasonable questions to smart people. So perhaps, the challenge is to focus enough to be able to ask the right clarifying questions. I am still working on that skill.
CB: What are you most proud of in your career to date?
BD: A person I work with once told me, “We trust you.” I smiled all the way home that night, in fact, I am smiling now at the mere memory of that. I so very much want to earn that compliment. Still.
CB: What specific hurdles did you face (or are facing) in the pandemic, and how did you overcome them? As a company and personally.
BD: The people I work with and care about have all been touched – no, more than touched, they have been bruised by the pandemic. Some were very ill for a time; all were worried about the health of the ones they love. In a very true way, we all went through periods of exhaustion. I read an article that describes the feeling of languishing – a feeling of weariness and general dissatisfaction despite being physically healthy. As a team, we confided to one another that feeling this way was threating to take root. It dissipates a bit when we acknowledge it - and when we tell each that it is OK to feel this way. The trick is how to best to banish it as we move into the heart of 2021.
CB: Diversity and inclusion is very important to Laurence Simons, I am an active member of the 30% Club, and we consistently ask our clients about their D&I policies as part of our due diligence. Can you please tell us, what does diversity, equity and inclusion mean to you, and why is it important?
BD: I do not see how you can call yourself a lawyer or a compliance officer if you do not believe in justice – in fairness. Justice and fairness are “the root of the root and the bud of the bud” of diversity, equity, and inclusion, (to misquote e.e. Cummings).
One of the many things that makes MSD a special place is that the company acknowledges – and celebrates - that lawyers and compliance professionals have a duty to serve our communities beyond the company. That is actively and sincerely encouraged.
CB: How would you advocate for diversity and inclusion with colleagues who do not understand its importance?
BD: Discrimination, and the need to combat discrimination, is universal. Discrimination is a wrong that respects no borders. The injustice of not giving someone a chance – of treating them as somehow lesser – is something that we need to actively address wherever we live and work. The people I work alongside do not need to be convinced of that. The same is true for inclusion. The importance of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded is something that is especially important in a multinational company.
I am so glad we are a multinational team. I find that when we have discussions on the topic of diversity and inclusion it helps if we listen and provide a space to talk openly about what discrimination and inclusion means to us as individuals, and as members of different communities. With that as a foundation, we can then tackle what we can and must do together and immediately to strengthen our diversity and inclusion efforts, immediately.
CB: And finally, outside of material gains, including achieving professional goals, what gives you the greatest joy?
BD: My three grown children- they make my heart dance in my chest.
CB: Thank you Brian for your honesty and insightful answers. It has been a pleasure talking with you today.
]]>At Laurence Simons we know from experience that diversity gives you access to a wider range of talent, providing a greater world view and insight. As a search company, we also know that when employees feel accepted and valued, they are also happier in their workplace and stay longer with a company.
As a company that values equity, in fact, one of our values is actually inclusion, we are continuing our Talking Head Series by asking our valued clients and friends their thoughts on the following question:
What is your approach to understanding the perspectives of colleagues from different backgrounds?
"Listening to understand, seeking to learn other people’s perspectives, and seeing the strength in diverse opinion is key here, by including all colleagues and learning from each other. By doing this, the compound effect of each and every one of us doing something means that incremental steps and change to a more equal, diverse, and inclusive world – in all senses – will happen."
- Clare Beresford, CEO, Laurence Simons
"Through openness, flexibility, respect for each other and neutrality, one can have open discussions and exchange of views with the aim of understanding each other, irrespective of your background."
- Alexander von Voß, LL.M, Chief Legal Officer, ProSiebenSat.1
"Understanding starts with listening. And I mean listening to understand not listening to offer my opinion. Taking the time and paying attention to someone else’s story, trying to walk in their shoes, and imagining their experiences, helps me a lot. But it does not stop there. Once I have listened, I am trying to truly understand and build empathy. I try to relate to the other person, try to seek common ground by asking questions, and use that for a joined-up plan with joined-up action. It is my experience that if you listen hard enough and you try to really understand, it is rare that you will not find common ground for a joint path forward."
- Stefan John, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, BASF Corporation
"No-one should feel they have to hide or mask core parts of themselves at work because they feel unsafe or unsupported. It takes leadership commitment to ensure inclusivity – that every team member feels included, respected and free to express themselves, and voice concerns based on their unique perspectives and experiences.
I embrace diverse thinking in every interaction with my team because I value feedback. It also means I get some incredible ideas, and it helps everyone to understand that they have an important role to play in our shared mission."
- Victoria McClean, CEO, City CV
]]>Caroline is an international human rights lawyer who co-leads GoodCorporation’s operations in France. Caroline has advised on human rights and business ethics for major organisations headquartered both in France and abroad. She has worked in a wide range of sectors including oil and gas, construction, food and beverage and agricultural industries.
Many thanks to Caroline for her insight and thoughts.
Ten years on from the publication of the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights accounts of human rights abuses such as child labour, exploitation, enslavement and habitat destruction are still all too familiar. Despite the introduction of tougher human rights legislation in multiple jurisdictions, it would seem that assessing and mitigating human rights risks effectively is still proving problematic.
In addition to greater regulatory obligations, we are also seeing growing pressure from investors on businesses to demonstrate appropriate governance of issues such as human rights.
For any business seeking to manage its human rights impacts, whether for regulatory compliance, investor relations or simply to manage ethical and reputational risk, the first step is to understand the human rights risks associated with your company’s activities and business relationships.
In analysing operations, businesses need to be cognisant of the many adverse human rights impacts that can occur and consider all that may apply anywhere in their operations, including the supply chain. Labour conditions, freedom of association, bullying and harassment, discrimination and exploitation are some of the more routinely understood human rights risks in the workplace. Certain industries and sectors carry risks of child or bonded labour, human trafficking or forced labour in their supply chain. For others, the risks may be to local communities resulting from environmental damage, security abuses, displacement, or resettlement. A carefully conducted risk assessment will ensure that all risks, including salient human rights issues, are properly identified, and acted upon.
There are five key steps that any organisation can take to ensure that an effective human rights risk assessment is undertaken.
Step 1: Identify the risks to people not the company
Too many companies start by assessing the risks to the business rather than the risk of harm to people. Focussing primarily on the risks to the business will fail to provide a comprehensive analysis of the human rights impacts that a business might cause or to which it might contribute. However, beginning with the risk to people enables a company both to understand fully all the human rights impacts the business might cause and also assess the adverse impact on the business that result from such abuses.
A human rights risk assessment must therefore begin by considering how the human rights of people, be they workers, communities, or consumers, might be adversely impacted by business activities. It is only by properly understanding when, where and how business operations might infringe on human rights that abuses can be effectively mitigated. This will vary considerably according to the nature of the business activities, its location, its operating units, and its business relationships. This process will need to be repeated periodically to reflect any changes in operations that might create or increase risks.
Step 2. Meaningful stakeholder engagement
While identifying the risks, it is vital to obtain extensive and detailed stakeholder feedback at both the corporate and operational level, possibly including trade union consultation where the biggest risks may be linked to labour issues. Stakeholders in key affiliates and business partners should be included in this process, taking care to ensure that those selected are representative of the full range of businesses with which the organisation is involved.
There are different ways of gathering stakeholder feedback, such as interviews (face-to-face or online) or workshops. Online questionnaires may also be used to gather information although it is important to create an opportunity for challenge. For this reason, it is also important to work with an external expert who has in-depth knowledge of human rights risks and how they can manifest themselves on the ground. This will ensure an appropriate level of challenge and scrutiny which will lead to an accurate understanding of the risks. This is essential as the outcome of these interviews will provide the critical information for the development of the company’s risk register.
Step 3. Document analysis
As part of this process, a thorough review of the risk management system in place should also be conducted to identify any gaps in policies and procedures and ensure best practice is being followed.
Any previous human rights audits, surveys or risk assessments should be included in this review to take account of the current levels of understanding and management of the risks. It may also be appropriate to consult with country risk indices, based on internationally recognised sources. This can help ensure that the human rights risks by geography are properly captured and that this informs both the risk register and the road map for improvement.
Step 4. Development of a risk register
Using the information gathered from stakeholder interviews and document analysis, a human rights risk register can be produced. This should include all risks identified, their severity and probability of occurrence, the level of risk appreciation within the organisation, existing mitigation measures and areas for improvement.
Going one step further, GoodCorporation builds scenarios into the register to illustrate ways in which the risks might manifest themselves in the business and its various operations. Together the risk scenarios, and risk assessment process overall provide a powerful tool to raise awareness among employees of the organisation’s salient human rights issues.
Step 5. Development of a road map for improvement
Based on this work, businesses will be able to define their overall strategy for managing and mitigating human rights impacts. This will involve recognising the human rights risks within their operations and business relationships, prioritising these based on their severity – not necessarily taking into account the company’s leverage – and ensuring appropriate mitigation measures are in place.
The risk assessment will lead to the identification of all the necessary steps to address the risks, and this will form a tailored road map for improvement. This road map should include overarching objectives supported by concrete recommendations and achievable solutions with a timeline for implementation.
Human rights best practice is rapidly emerging, so any road map should be informed by the latest guidance for mitigating risk and managing any adverse impacts that may be caused by business activities or to which businesses may contribute.
Conclusion
Few businesses, if any, can afford to ignore the impact of their activities on human rights. Yet too often businesses have failed to act, falsely believing that the risk to reputation from human rights abuses was low. In today’s world, any and every human rights abuse is a tragedy as well as a potential scandal. It is therefore imperative that proactive steps are taken to properly identify all human rights risks and ensure effective mitigation measures are firmly in place throughout the entire value chain. Getting the risk assessment right could not be more important.
]]>As a female business owner, I am an active member of the 30% Club, and we consistently ask our clients about their D&I policies as part of our due diligence.
Laurence Simons also recently signed up to the Women in Law Pledge. This pledge is a commitment to work together to harness the power of gender equality to transform the business of law. We are proud to support this initiative.
We are proud to be a sponsor of the ACC Europe Conference in May 2021, and will be delivering a workshop on Eliminating Bias in the Workplace, which prompted me to write this feature to examine the theme, can we really eliminate bias?
Science says that we can, ultimately, but biased without even realising that. Research says the same too. Our minds are programmed to make decisions intuitively, and whereas we like to believe that logical processes affect our decision making, science has proven that there is also a lot of unconscious activity taking place too to bias our judgements. The same applies when making hiring decisions too.
In the recruitment process, bias happens when you create an opinion about someone based on their first impression. And it may not be social discrimination taking place, even their name, or hometown may create an impression, good or bad, in your mind, before you even meet them. And none of this information is relevant to whether they can do the job well.
Throw in some conscious bias too and the process gets even more complicated. I am not suggesting that anyone deliberately discriminates, just highlighting that some pre-conceived ideas of who will fit best into the team culturally or be similar to the people already in that team.
Unconscious, and conscious, bias is undoubtedly costing companies time, money, and business productivity, it is proven that diverse teams perform better.
So, what can we all do to make some steps forward? There are the obvious ways to remove bias from recruiting, for example, blind resume screening methods, female only career days etc, but you must take a step further back, and look at diversifying your hiring process, not just diversifying your team. By using the same recruitment methodology, you are attracting the same people, and possibly missing out on some candidates that do have the correct skill set.
So, to answer the question originally posed, can we really remove unconscious bias from our hiring processes? I am not 100% certain that we can, but by being aware of our biases, and helping people think more consciously when making hiring decisions, than we are all making very important steps in the right direction to reflect the society in which they are based.
My fabulous team are happy to discuss any aspects of your legal recruitment process, please reach out to us as we would love to hear from you.
Clare Beresford, CEO, Laurence Simons
]]>Nicolai von Steinaecker and Sven Laacks, Directors in the German office at Laurence Simons Search, talk to Daniel about legal advice in the football and sports sector, trends, and the next national German coach!
LS: Hello Daniel, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today to talk together about football and the special features of legal advice in the sports industry.
Daniel Erd: Thank you both for the invitation, I am really happy to chat to you both today.
LS: Please can you tell us more about how you became a lawyer that can practice within the sports sector in addition to classic corporate/M&A advice?
DE: Strictly speaking, I have been connected to sport and football for a long time, especially with Eintracht Frankfurt, so I always looked for an opportunity to include sport during my legal studies, for example, topics such as sport financing. This continued during my legal clerkship, during which I spent part of the time at the DFL. In addition, I also had the option of self-study to expand my knowledge.
I started my career at K&L Gates in Corporate/M&A. Two years ago, the opportunity arose to move to Pinsent Masons' newly opened Frankfurt office. This gave me the opportunity to work with Trevor Watkins, our Global Head of Sports, and provided access to extremely interesting mandates and projects in the sports sector. At Pinsent Masons, we advise clubs on daily legal matters and have also advised on transactions such as the IPO of Spielvereinigung Unterhaching and, most recently, the acquisition of Premier League club Burnley FC by ALK Capital.
LS: Wow, this is certainly not common and, if I remember correctly, the first transaction of its kind in a number of years. What differences do you encounter when we compare a “normal” M&A deal with a deal like this one?
DE: The soccer industry certainly has numerous special features. On the one hand, this can be compared with a kind of regulated industry, with the difference here - in addition to the legal regulations - national and international associations specify further framework conditions. Furthermore, you must understand the industry in depth, as various mechanisms, such as accounting and valuation, are very different from those in classic industrial companies. So, you have to know, for example, that transfer payments, which are paid by clubs of the Bundesliga in connection with the change of licensed players to the transferring clubs, are to be activated as acquisition costs for the intangible asset of the exclusive usage option "to the player" and for the term of the contract are to be written off. Ultimately, and this is certainly somewhat unique, soft factors and regional issues also play a major role in such a business. A football club with a 140-year history like Burnley FC has strong ties to the city, the region, and the community. It was therefore a very essential part of the deal that our client presented a coherent and long-term concept of how this bond can be continued in the future.
LS: I can see that the world works a little differently here. What is keeping investors away from the German market and what are the differences to the international leagues?
DE: A complex question in which a large number of factors play a role. In addition to the well-known discussion about the 50 + 1 rule, the German clubs are rated quite high in an international comparison. Traditional clubs that have been playing in the 2nd or 3rd Bundesliga for a long time are rated as high as they can be found in the top leagues of other countries. This of course plays an important role for the entry of an investor. In addition, there is also the fact that in Germany the shares of the clubs are not simply “traded”, as it happens in other countries. Finally, the German clubs provide their membership a strong say and must be involved in the decisions. This often limits the room for manoeuvre of the club or provides at least an element of uncertainty.
LS: Ultimately the sport, and especially the soccer sector, will have to adapt? Be it for reasons of liquidity or international competitiveness.
DE: This will be the result in my opinion. In the last few years, we have repeatedly heard of financial difficulties for some clubs. The coronavirus pandemic acted as a kind of catalyst here and exacerbated the problems. The opening of the DFL to private equity investors (link to Finance Magazine) highlights the relevance of the topic.
LS: But more than ever you ask yourself what makes it interesting for an investor to join a more or less indebted football club?
DE: Of course, the risk is there, because ultimately sporting success cannot be completely planned. But here, too, the mechanisms work differently than in the classic M&A business. For investors, marketing aspects also play a role, which you can use for yourself, but also for affiliated companies. For example, after joining Borussia Mönchengladbach as the main sponsor, Flatex recorded an extreme increase in its users.
LS: Do you think big soccer nations like Germany, France or Italy still have the possibility to stop the World Cup in Qatar or to discredit the tournament by means of boycotts? At least the grass supplier has already cancelled….
DE: As a football fanatic, I would truly welcome this, but I lack faith. The threatening consequences, both economically and organisationally, are very high. Instead, I have the hope that individual player personalities could still position themselves and thus achieve commitments in the host country.
LS: But finally, the most important question: Who should be the next national coach? Many names have already been mentioned - Hansi Flick, Ralf Rangnick or Jürgen Klopp?
DE: I would like Christian Streich as a national coach.
LS: We would be happy with that decision too, though, unfortunately, we first need a new sports director and trainer in Frankfurt. A lot remains uncertain in Frankfurt. It is certain though that we will have a beer or two together when the stadiums open again.
DE: I fully trust the people involved at Eintracht, who have done an excellent job over the past few years. I am definitely looking forward to the beer.
LS: Daniel thank you for the entertaining exchange.
]]>Based in the UK, Charles Harvey, has several years’ experience within legal search, and a proven track record of completing complex search assignments for senior executive leaders in the UK and internationally.
Charles qualified as a solicitor with a leading UK law firm before moving into legal search. He will support Laurence Simons across their In-house and Private Practice functions.
Charles joins the company from Spencer Stuart, where he advised FTSE 100 / 250 as well as private companies on a range of C-suite level search mandates across legal and compliance. Prior to this he worked for a market leading boutique legal recruitment company advising US and UK law firms on Associate hiring and team moves in the UK and across Europe.
Clare Beresford, CEO at Laurence Simons, says “Charles’ appointment from a Tier 1 global search firm is a sign of our intention to acquire the best talent internally and I’m delighted that he has joined Laurence Simons as a Director. Charles is a fantastic talent with a wealth of experience in the legal industry, who is already known to many of our customers – our clients and our candidates. Laurence Simons continues to grow, and we are genuinely excited, as we invest in our team to take our place as a leading international search firm. Charles will be a brilliant asset to our team’’.
Charles adds, ‘‘Laurence Simons is already a success story, with an international footprint. I am incredibly excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. The company is incredibly dynamic, and I am proud to be part of their journey during this time of significant growth’’.
For more information on Laurence Simons please visit www.laurencesimons.com.
To contact Charles, please email charles.harvey@laurencesimons.com.
]]>Clare Beresford, CEO at Laurence Simons, catches up with Ilse to discuss all things career, challenges and diversity related!
CB: Good morning Ilse. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me today, and huge congratulations on your appointment with ACC Europe. We are sponsors of the ACC Europe Conference later this month and delighted that you can chat with us today. To begin, can you tell me about the moment you decided to become a lawyer?
IDL: When the time came for me to decide on which university degree I would study, I hesitated between Roman Philology (French and Spanish language and culture) and law. As enamoured as I was with the Roman languages, it quickly became clear to me that a degree in such a field was not business-oriented enough to help me achieve my life goals. My dream was to work in an international business environment and a law qualification offered a better fit.
CB: When were you most challenged as a lawyer and how did you overcome it?
IDL: I have encountered several challenging moments in my legal career. While often difficult in the moment, looking back, these challenges must be seen as important steps to learn and grow along the way, and they have helped me become a better professional. The way I overcame the challenges was to be confident, motivated, and have a clear set of goals and values, while keeping a positive mindset.
CB: What are you most proud of in your career to date?
IDL: I am very proud of achieving my dream of working at C-level in an international business environment, (Europe, USA and Asia) where I am an equal and valued business partner to the executive suite and organisation. I also take pride in the fact that I’ve built international legal departments that provide workable and business-oriented legal solutions that take into account the broader commercial and financial picture. Setting up these legal departments required me to build legal teams from scratch, finding the right people, and mentoring and challenging them to be their very best.
CB: What advice would you give to your younger self?
IDL: Wow, I wish I could give my younger self a good talking to! I would start by reinforcing the idea that the only limits you have are self-imposed and learn early to trust your instincts. I really believe that these two lessons, especially for women, can be incredibly powerful. I would also say, to help find the motivation from within to overcome challenges, you must believe in the positive changes you will make.
CB: Diversity and inclusion is very important to Laurence Simons Search, I’m an active member of the 30% Club, and we consistently ask our clients about their D&I policies as part of our due diligence. Can you please tell us what diversity, equity and inclusion mean to you, and why they’re important?
IDL: An organisation’s human capital is its most valuable asset. The collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities, and talent that employees invest in their work represents a significant part of not only a company’s culture, but also its reputation and overall ability to be successful. And of course, it is the morally and economically right thing to do.
Therefore, it is extremely important that organisations, and society, embrace and encourage all employees’ differences in age, race, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make us all special and unique.
As one example, I am proud of the fact that our company has initiated a comprehensive Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity Program to be applied to the entire organization.
The purpose of this program is to ensure principles are in place and communicated throughout the organisation to provide inclusive, effective, equitable, and respectful operations and services that are welcoming and responsive to all persons of diverse backgrounds, experience, ideas, and perspectives.
LBC recognizes that its goals and values can only be achieved by bringing forward a truly diverse and inclusive workforce where each employee feels valued and empowered to fully engage in their work every day.
As President of ACC Europe, I’m very proud that we are a strong advocate of diversity and inclusion through our initiatives and member support. For example, women are making a difference throughout ACC Europe with strong female representation on our board and on the country representative level. We are also working closely with our colleagues and members to expand resources and best practices to promote and expand DEI initiatives.
Being a member of ACC offers opportunities to liaise, work, and socialise with colleagues all over Europe, and the world, and I feel strongly that this inclusive environment is very inspiring, encouraging personal and professional growth. It’s an organisation where we lead by example by being open, supportive, and collaborative with others.
CB: How would you advocate for diversity and inclusion with colleagues who don’t understand its importance?
IDL: I believe that the General Counsel or law department must often serve as an ethical and moral compass for an organization. As such, that sometimes requires influencing and educating parts of an organisation that are not yet aware of the value and importance of diversity and inclusion. Most essential is the tried and true “walk the talk”, to lead by example, and display patience whilst explaining that diversity and inclusion is both a moral and economic issue. The benefits of a solid diversity and inclusion foundation are crystal clear and will accrue for the organisation and its employees in direct proportion to their participation and dedication.
CB: In your opinion, what is the most challenging aspect of working in a diverse environment?
IDL: I do not find a diverse environment to be challenging at all. Quite to the contrary, I find it to be extremely enriching and it helps me to grow personally and professionally. I also share my cultural learnings with my three sons and believe it has helped them be very open-minded and inclusive. I’m very proud to see that this is paying-off and that they see diversity, inclusivity, and fair treatment as a standard way of living.
CB: Going forward, which changes do you see coming in the legal profession and more widely?
IDL: Legal operations and project management have become more important. The adoption of artificial intelligence and legal technology is ongoing and some parts of it will be as revolutionary to the legal profession as robots were to manufacturing. Those who are hesitant to adopt these evolving technologies, or hold a negative view of them, will be left behind in our profession. In the changing business climate, compliance is also more important than ever.
CB: And finally, if you had not chosen a legal career what would you have liked to become?
IDL: As a child, I had a wonderful dream of becoming a dancer. Now, I’m very passionate about art and culture and so would really have enjoyed a cultural management position such as an opera intendant or curator of an art house.
CB: Thank you Ilse for your honesty and insightful answers. It has been a pleasure talking with you today.
]]>James is a litigator whose practice covers competition, pharmaceuticals, and international trade. He advises leading industry players in a broad range of business sectors, from information technology and semi-conductors to airlines and steel. Recognized as one of the leading lawyers in his field by The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers & Economists 2020, James uses his extensive experience and formidable grasp of EU laws and procedures to help clients navigate complex strategic issues.
In the competition field, James regularly advises companies under investigation by the Commission, notably in areas such as pharmaceuticals and standard setting, where IP and competition law overlap. He also advises merging parties and complainants under the EU Merger Regulation and has successfully defended several major cartel cases.
Clare Beresford, CEO at Laurence Simons Search catches up with James to discuss all things career, Brexit, challenges, and diversity related.
Clare Beresford (CB): Thank you very much James for taking the time to talk to us today. Did you always want to be a lawyer?
James Killick (JK): No, I started off studying science, and then changed to law after my first year. I was talking to someone in the pub who said that I did not look like a scientist, and that I look more like a lawyer, and, whilst at the time I laughed about it, it obviously resonated as I changed my degree to become a lawyer!
CB: I know that your career is by no means complete, but what are you most proud of professionally?
JK: There have been a lot of interesting cases, but the one that stands out recently was a specific international trade case. President Trump decided to block the US steel market to imports in 2018, and Europe decided to put in place a steel safeguard to protect our market from the adverse consequences as obviously steel that was previously destined for the US would be looking for a home elsewhere. I represent the steel industry, and within three weeks of the case being opened my team had completed questionnaire responses from over 250 companies and produced a 900-page submission, and those three weeks were actually over the Easter holiday! There were dozens of parties on the other side of the case, including numerous governments. Yet within three months we had safeguard measures in place covering the entire European steel industry, designed to protect the European steel industry and to keep over 300,000 people in their jobs, and I am very proud of this. Safeguard cases come only once each decade, so it was definitely a once in a generation moment.
CB: We know you have recently been busy advising clients trying to work out how to navigate changes from a legal and compliance perspective in relation to Brexit. Do you think there is anything that has been missed that we think is going to have some sort of impact in the future either from a European Union perspective, the UK perspective or even the global perspective?
JK: The rules for third country trade to the EU are complex but relatively clear. The UK decided that it did not want to be part of the EU, so it loses all the benefits of membership. So, the problem is rather that the advantages of membership were assumed. It is rather painful filling in customs declarations, and some of this is costly, but I think overall people should not have been so surprised.
Now there are some very complex concepts which may not be fully understood, and that complexity might have surprised some people. For example, ‘’diagonal cumulation of origin’’, when you take a product from Europe, then you transform it in Britain, then you sell it back to Europe, is it still British in origin or is it European? How does that change if the British factor includes a part from China – or even if the original European part had Chinese content? The rules are rather complicated, and the net outcome can be that duties are payable, even when we have a basic free trade deal in place between the UK and EU.
CB: It has been interesting for us as a legal search business to see just how many law firms have been insistent that they need people to be office based, whilst some are offering complete flexibility to their employees. One of the things that come up in conversation is how to train your junior and trainee lawyers from home, have you found a solution for this?
JK: Hearing and learning from more experienced colleagues is a huge part of their training, you overhear things in the office, you are involved in more discussions, you can see how people act, or react, to situations. It is so much more effective to talk things through face to face than to do an email or by Zoom. I miss the wandering through the corridors to discuss issues, see who is doing what task, and to find someone who is able to help me on a specific task. It is not the same just relying on an Excel chart with availability. I do feel for those that we hired in March 2020; they did not get the chance to meet the people that they work with face to face. It has been harder for them to make friends and to build their network, though we have tried to make sure they have had the same support.
When this pandemic is over, I would love to see people back in the office, though maybe not for 100% of the time, we have always been relatively flexible, but I would love to exchange ideas more with my colleagues, and even to talk about family, friends, pets, eat their biscuits and so on! Being human we seek human contact; some normality would be great.
CB: Any advice you would give to yourself as a junior lawyer?
JK: Definitely, I would say that it is ok to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. Everyone makes mistakes, and you should not be afraid of stretching yourself. I would also say do not be afraid to show personality. To quote Pulp Fiction a little personality goes a long way. You should be able to express yourself.
And lastly, but most importantly, do try to have some fun along the way, life is long and hard enough so make sure you leave time to also enjoy yourself.
CB: How do you see law firms adapting to using artificial intelligence?
JK: It will help in more manual repetition in documents, for example, seeing if they are the same, highlighting the differences, and also for contracts. Some of the technology available is incredible, where you can just populate some information and it completes the documentation. Law firms need to be open to this as a generator of efficiency.
On the other hand, I think there are some areas where artificial intelligence will not play a big role – at least for now. For example, in some types of litigation. If I am arguing a case, it is important that it is presented well, which is based on experience, so it is not obvious that AI could help in that instance. Equally, if when negotiating a deal, you have to find a way that both your client and the other parties are happy, again a trickier thing for AI to support.
CB: We are consistently hearing from general counsels that ESG is dominating their agendas, regardless of sector or discipline, plus diversity and inclusion initiatives. Are you seeing this reflected in your workplace?
JK: Diversity has been an important issue for many years, but it is changing. The problem that everyone was talking about when I started was that there were not enough women in the top levels of most law firms. As a firm, we took steps to address that, such that half the partners I work with in Brussels today are women. We have also been working on addressing all the other elements of diversity, and the firm has won a number of awards for its work. But the task for the profession as a whole is a big one. Law firms need to continue to work to be fully reflective of society as a whole.
CB: You should rightly be proud of the work that you have done in your firm regarding diversity and inclusion. Thank you, James, for your insight and thoughts, it has been an absolute pleasure chatting to you.
]]>What does your role encompass?
I am a trusted advisor for both candidates and clients and also run a branch office.
I have a long track record of placing Legal and Compliance specialists since 2004 and work primarily in-house, with a regional focus in Germany.
Since joining Laurence Simons, I have also worked in Luxembourg, Eastern Europe and for a client in the US.
I am part of the management board and manage our team on the ground; Alex, our experienced researcher, who is also my right hand, and Tim, our student who works in Business Support.
What projects are you currently working on?
I recently placed the Global Head of IP for a US-based Life Science company as well as their EMEA Legal Head, based in Munich. I am now looking for an M&A specialist for a German corporate in Frankfurt and waiting for the signature of a Global Head of Legal Automotive for an International family-owned business. Besides those in-house roles, I am advising two partners of law firms who wish to transfer their businesses onto a new platform. ]]>Can you tell us a little more about Frankfurt as a city?
I came to Frankfurt in the summer of 2000 and it’s changed a lot for the better. Besides some new skyscrapers – there are still around 20 in planning or under construction – the neighbourhoods have also changed. A lot of little shops, bars and restaurants popped up and you can now choose between a traditional apple wine restaurant, great Sushi or really fine dining; especially in our neighbourhood Nordend. ]]>In this instalment of ‘Life in the Day’, Jen shares her average day, interests, and hobbies.
]]>I take my morning coffee and go for a walk in the park next to my house, or go out for a riverside cycle. I use the time to mentally prepare for the day ahead. I often think about what I’m grateful for, any upcoming plans I’m excited about and what I can do to stay calm and centred throughout the day.
]]>What does your role encompass?
My role has a broad strategic remit centred around culture and engagement, equity, diversity and inclusion, reward and recognition, resourcing, and learning and development. I lead the HR team to drive Laurence Simons’ commercial success by providing a first-class employee experience.What projects are you currently working on?
It’s a busy time for HR at the moment. Current projects include onboarding, competency frameworks and career paths, appraisal systems, recognition and incentives, culture and behavioural standards, reviewing our EDI & Management training and implementing a new Applicant Tracking System.Who do you work most closely with?
Emma Cox, our brilliant HR Consultant. Also Clare and Carrie.]]>Do you have any recommendations?
Greenwich market, the V&A and British Museum, Hyde Park, Richmond Park and getting out on the river.
]]>In this instalment of ‘Life in the Day’, Weronika shares her average day, interests, and hobbies.
]]>What does your role encompass?
In my role, I assist our London-based consultants (Victoria and Charlie) on their client work. Whether it’s research on our clients and/or the market we are working in, preparing client-facing documents, mapping the market for suitable candidates for the shortlist or scheduling interviews and calls, I will do most of the background work to assist in the search process.What projects are you currently working on?
I have recently assisted Victoria in several privacy hires for a pharmaceutical multinational business, as well as compliance placements within the telecommunications sector. I also assisted Charlie in a funds lawyer placement at an international venture capital firm and a Head of Legal role at an oil & gas organisation. Also worked with a large aviation and aerospace client!Who do you work most closely with?
In my role, I work very closely with our London based Directors, Victoria and Charlie as I assist them in any work they acquire. I also work very closely with Sam, our Director of TA&D, and Cameron who is the Senior Associate in the TA&D team. There are also many ad-hoc projects we work on together with the Business Support team.What do you enjoy about your work?
What I enjoy most about my role is the variety of the tasks, the wide selection of sectors we work in, and most importantly the people. Each search is a new experience and learning opportunity. I love the team I work with internally, and also the intriguing people we come across in client and candidates calls. No day is ever the same. ]]>In this instalment of ‘Life in the Day’, Victoria shares his average day, interests, and hobbies.
]]>What does your role encompass?
My role involves pitching (which I love!) and hopefully winning new work for our business. I also spend a lot of time nurturing and growing existing client relationships and have many clients I work with globally. I work closely with Weronika and Samantha, and we find the best legal, compliance, investigations, and privacy talent for our clients. I am also pulled into various client meetings to discuss anything from headcount to team structure, budgets, trends, and a whole host of random things that I seem to be involved in! When it comes to career development, I provide Lumina Spark coaching to clients and candidates; I also mentor and train more junior members of our team. Naturally, I spend a lot of time interviewing for my clients and for internal new hires. Finally, I sit on our management team, where I am responsible for our operational efficiency, which involves looking at our cost of delivered service and ensuring that we all provide a streamlined, consistent, and efficient service.What projects are you currently working on?
Currently, I am building the global privacy team for a large, listed pharmaceuticals business. I have just placed a US General Counsel for a growing Danish biotechnology business, and I am also leading an interesting Compliance Culture search which requires a lawyer that can help drive and embed ethical behaviours into a business culture. I am also working on some specialist sanctions and trade compliance searches in the US and UK for manufacturing and aerospace businesses. Finally, I am supporting on a number of projects for my client which is currently going through a corporate monitorship, and this has taken up a lot of my time over the pandemic, but it has been a hugely rewarding and interesting experience!Who do you work most closely with?
We have a dedicated team model, so I am fortunate to work with our Global Director of Talent Acquisition & Development, Samantha Knowles and Associate, Weronika Dominas. Muhammad Karimabadi will also join my team shortly to work alongside Weronika, who will be promoted next month and transition into Talent Acquisition and Development. We are a close-knit and happy team.What do you enjoy about your work?
Firstly, working with Samantha and Weronika on a daily basis! I also love the breadth of my work and how international it is. Every day brings a new challenge, whether it's discussing sanctions and customs compliance to data ethics or compliance challenges for US businesses in high-risk markets. I love meeting intelligent and interesting lawyers around the world and learning about their unique career journeys. I also love the thrill of winning new business, I enjoy seeing clients become repeat customers, and I am happiest when I become their trusted advisor. ]]>How do you spend time out of work, and what are your main hobbies and passions?
Currently, all of my time is spent supervising the renovation of my 1850s apartment in central London. It has been one of the scariest and biggest learning curves of my life and I will be delighted when it is finally finished and dust free! When I am not charming my builders, I am escaping to my native Ireland to sail with my dad, indulging my love of fast cars, flying to Menorca to consume too many patatas bravas or sampling some of London's finest old fashioneds.What are you currently looking forward to?
Booking a long winter sun holiday, probably to the Waldorf Astoria in Ras al Khaimah.Can you tell us a little more about the city you live in?
I am based in London. I have lived in a few different places, but London has my heart because it is super international, vibrant, accepting, and large enough to always be interesting. I love the green spaces, in particular, Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, where I am most weekends.What are your favourite places in the city?
Everyone has their favourite side of London; it is impossible to remain neutral on this! I am a diehard West fan. I have numerous recommendations. For culture- Leighton House in Holland Park, The Natural History Museum, the V&A Museum and Ham House. Food – Nipa Thai at The Lancaster, Ceru for the most divine Arabic cuisine, Kazan for beautiful Turkish food, Amaya or Hankies for Indian and Sufi in Shepherd's Bush for Persian. Gold on Portobello Road or Sunday in Brooklyn are perfect spots for Sunday brunch, but if you are looking for a beautiful Sunday Roast, I recommend The Champion at Notting Hill Gate. Ain't Nothing But The Blues Bar is a wonderful night out, but you can't beat ending the night at Karaoke Box on Maddox Street. Finally, to clear the cobwebs, I recommend Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park with a coffee at the Italian Fountains. Alternatively, Richmond on a Sunday afternoon, Hammersmith by the River, or taking the Thames Clipper for a stroll through Greenwich. My list would not be complete without referencing some establishments where you can procure a fine old fashioned! Bar Americain, Scarfe's Bar, The Cadogan Arms and Homeboy, Islington.
]]>In this instalment of ‘Life in the Day’, Cameron shares his average day, interests, and hobbies.
]]>What does your role encompass?
NEEDS UPDATINGWhat projects are you currently working on?
Currently we are advising on few projects. Specifically, a leading tech focused venture capital fund who are looking to appoint a dedicated funds lawyer in London, we’re dealing directly with their General Counsel. We’ve also recently closed two senior M&A searches in the UK and the US for one of the largest insurance brokerages in the world, it was a newly formed dedicated M&A team so it had a really interesting ‘build’ angle to it.Who do you work most closely with?
I work closely with Charles Harvey in the Consultant team, where we focus largely on searches in UK, wider Europe and the US, I have also worked closely with Victoria, Angela and Nico on searches in their geographies of focus. The geographical spread has added an element to this job that I didn’t really appreciate before but now thoroughly enjoy.What do you enjoy about your work?
The diversity has always been the key for me in recruitment generally, even in private practice no two candidates are the same! This diversity is even more pronounced when working across sectors, regions and cultures. LS is also specialist across Compliance and Privacy (in addition to Legal) so the diversity in experience is wide too. ]]>Can you tell us a little more about the city you live in?
I live in Hitchin, Hertfordshire (so “city” would be both inaccurate and vastly grandiose term for it). Hitchin is a lovely commuter town, it’s fantastically located for London and really can’t complain about the commute. I’m also a bit of a country boy so I do really appreciate the ease with which I can be in the middle of nowhere quite quickly. That said, I do fancy getting into the thick of it and moving into London for a few years.]]>In this instalment of ‘Life in the Day’, Tim shares his average day, interests, and hobbies.
]]>What does your role encompass?
My role in Business Support is mainly to provide general support to Nico and Alex, but also to the other consultants and TA&D members. Of course, we also support each other in the Business Support Team, especially with large tasks. My daily tasks include the preparation of due diligence reports and the management of our CRM tool.What projects are you currently working on?
NEEDS UPDATING ]]>Can you tell us a little more about the city you live in?
I was born in Frankfurt, but I grew up in a small village with name Lißberg, which is around 50km northeast of Frankfurt. It’s a nice place surrounded by nature with a little lake and old castle ruins. I still live here, but I will move to or at least near Frankfurt within the next few months.
What are your favorite places in Lißberg?
I like the forests that surround it and where I enjoy cycling. I also like the small lake, where you can swim or fish.Do you have any recommendations?
Enjoy nature and explore the forests.]]>Pledges:
- Women in law pledge(UK)
- Pay Equity Pledge(US)
- National Association of Women Lawyers - Pay Equity Resolution(US)
Resources:
]]>Click the link below to get started.
]]>2022 made headlines for law firms, continuing a surprisingly robust year with lateral Partner hiring. The number of law firm Partner moves in the UK increased for the second time since the Covid-19 pandemic. Reportedly, the summer of 2022 was the busiest summer for London Lateral Hires in five years.
Following suit, has been in the in-house legal market, which also saw a high degree of hiring. 2022 reportedly saw 90 General Counsel moves (that have been researched and /or announced).
]]>In this first instalment of Summing Up, the legal podcast, Stephanie Boyce discusses her journey to Presidency, the obstacles she faced and the importance of law being a career path open to all.
]]>English version:
The Juve Awards are coming soon. Laurence Simons is sponsoring this year's Law Firm of the Year Award in Antitrust. Among the nominees is the US law firm Hausfeld, with whose German managing partner Dr. Alex Petrasincu, our colleagues Nicolai von Steinaecker and Alexander Gorny were able to talk about the nomination. In addition to Hausfeld's nomination, we discussed the legal market in general - and how the law firm, as a very diverse employer with a working culture of respect and trust, managed to score exceptionally well with young talent. LS: Hello, Dr. Petrasincu; thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today and congratulations on being nominated again - all good things come in threes, so nothing stands in the way of the award in October? AP: We certainly wouldn’t mind! In any case, we see the renewed nomination as an award for the successes we achieved for our clients last year. LS: Maybe Juve Publishing should think about revising its ranking. You are always right up there with the big news and successes, but not in the handbook. Legal500 sees it differently. AP: Yes and no, with our focus on antitrust law in digital markets and antitrust litigation, we serve a niche within the niche, and we are therefore generally pleased about the recognition. But you are right in that we have by far one of the largest teams on the market with 20 colleagues who work purely in antitrust law. LS: Since you were founded in Germany, you have indeed shown astonishing growth, which was also recognised by your inclusion in the international management of the firm and your appointment as Managing Partner in Germany. A few years ago, you yourself believed there was no need for a classic management structure. AP: Due to our strong growth, we also needed clear management structures, but this does not mean we take a “top-down” approach. We coordinate all crucial issues closely within the partner group, as we have done since our founding. LS: Would you be open to external reinforcement in the form of “lateral hires”? AP: In principle, yes, although it is important to us that every new colleague is distinguished by absolute professional brilliance, fits in well with our team and is enthusiastic about our innovative approach to legal enforcement. But anyway, we are in the very fortunate position of already having excellent colleagues, so we also expect robust organic growth in any case. LS: And how do you recruit younger colleagues? AP: Fortunately, we don’t have any problems. Although we have much higher academic requirements than many other law firms, we receive a large number of outstanding applications. One reason for this may be that we have extremely exciting mandates in our niche and have achieved very good success for our clients. I think this also attracts young colleagues, for whom it is all the more important today to be on the “right side” and to stand up and fight for a “good cause”. In addition, as a law firm, we attach great importance to a collegial and fair working atmosphere, including regulated working hours. For example, we offer our lawyers not only the possibility of working 80% part-time or 35 days of holiday per year but also the guarantee that they will not be disturbed while on holiday. LS: That means you don’t have to go to job fairs - as is usually the case - to find young talent? AP: Not really, although we are deliberately making an exception here with our planned participation in the “Stick and Stones” fair next year, as the LGBTQ+ issue is very close to our hearts. We do this out of conviction, also because we are very diverse as a law firm, which I think is great! LS: When preparing for the interview, we noticed that as a law firm, you employ atypical profiles such as a Head of Economic Analysis and Legal Project Management or a Competition Economist. AP: As a law firm that is regularly confronted with very complex issues, huge amounts of data and the need to build up economic and business know-how, we have to take a multidisciplinary approach. In many cases, we work with external economists, whose hourly rates, as a side note, might make some large law firm partners envious. Here, however, the exchange of knowledge and communication is sometimes challenging, so we have internal staff who channel this information and serve as mediators between the worlds. We have 70 staff in Germany, and only thirty of them are lawyers. Particularly with large mandates, we always form multidisciplinary teams in which the project responsibility is shared by a counsel or senior associate on one side and a project manager on the other (under the main responsibility of a partner, of course). LS: That almost sounds like you are breaking new ground as a firm? AP: Absolutely. It is our aim to always bring out the best for our clients, and in doing so, we are also prepared to go in new and innovative ways. For example, we have set up assignment models for our clients that were controversial for a long time but were only recently approved by the Federal Supreme Court. Another example is the use of new regulations to control the market power of digital companies, e.g. the now infamous tipping paragraph. LS: And what are you looking forward to most when the brief is ready? AP: First and foremost, my family, of course. Apart from that, my great passion is American football - my favourite teams are the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL and the Rhein Fire in Germany. LS: Dr Petrasincu, thank you very much for the entertaining exchange, and we are looking forward to the joint celebration in October!]]>
Depending on whether I am in the office or not, my morning routine differs. If I’m in the office, I’m up at 7, have breakfast and listen to a podcast, and then off to the station. If I’m working from home, I tend to snooze my alarm for a while and get up a bit closer to 9!
]]>What does your role encompass?
When I joined Laurence Simons, my role was a hybrid between business support and talent acquisition, but as I write this, I have just moved fully into the talent acquisition team. As a member of the talent acquisition team, my role is focused on candidate curation, helping to search for the best candidates, presenting them to the consultant, and helping to manage them through the search process.
What projects are you currently working on?
In terms of searches, I am working on a role for a Senior Legal Counsel with a German-based packaging solutions company. We have also just completed a search for a Legal Counsel Europe with a Swedish, rare diseases company that specialises in treatment in the areas of hematology and immunology. I have also been involved in the General Counsel Study that we have been carrying out through our psychometric testing partner Lumina Learning.Who do you work most closely with?
For searches, I work in a team with Angela Floydd, our CCO and Anu Malhotra, our Head of Business Support and Delivery, supporting them on all Swiss-based searches. More widely, I work closely with the business support and talent acquisition teams on day-to-day matters and we help each other with any ongoing projects.What do you enjoy about your work?
I enjoy the collaborative, team approach that we have here at LS. I don’t come from a legal background so I have enjoyed being able to learn from the team how the recruitment process works differently within the legal sector.
]]>How do you spend time out of work, and what are your main hobbies and passions?
I am a massive sports fan, particularly football and cricket. Over the summer, I played cricket most Saturdays and now the football season has started again, I will be watching Arsenal and playing football wherever possible.What are you looking forward to?
With the winter coming up, there’s naturally less to look forward to but there are still a lot of good things going on. Particularly the world cup, although the way England are playing at the moment, I’m not sure we will be in it long enough to interrupt my December plans!Can you tell us a little more about the city you live in?
I am born and bred in London, coming from North, where I still live, in the Borough of Barnet (London’s most populous borough)!]]>Leading General Counsel confirmed to present include:
- Donny Ching, Legal Director, Shell
- Kate Cheetham, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, Lloyds Banking Group
- Jussi Koskinen, Chief Legal Officer, Nordea
- Justine Campbell, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary, National Grid
- John Harrison, General Counsel, Airbus
- Sabine Chalmers, Group General Counsel, BT Group
Here’s a sneak peek of some top sessions:
Day 1
- Closing the gap! Bridging the client - law firm disconnect(Jim Delkousis, Founder & CEO, PERSUIT)
- General Counsel Leadership & Strategy in 2022 (Diageo, Groupe BPCE and ThyssenKrupp GCs)
- Collaboration at the top - Law firm leadership & the GC (Anglo American, Airbus, Admiral Group and Lloyds Banking Group GCs)
- How Does a GC Drive ESG? (Rolls-Royce, Zurich Insurance, TD Securities and BT Group GCs)
Day 2
- Developing a comprehensive ESG strategy (Whitbread, National Grid, Shell and Halma GCs)
- Overcoming resistance to change – selling legal tech to your team and to your organization (Meggitt, Smiths Group, Thomson Reuters and Dexia GCs)
- Cultivating the next generation of legal talent (Fresenius Medical Care, Hargreaves Lansdown, AstraZeneca and HMRC GCs)
- Acting on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statements (Barratt Developments, Centrica, Kingfisher, Genomics and Zilch Technology GCs)
For the full agenda, speaker line-up and information on how to register, click here.
No other event is uniting this many European GCs in one place – job titles in attendance include:
Associate General Counsel, Chief Commercial Counsel, Chief Counsel Employment, Chief Counsel, Litigation and dispute resolution, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary, Chief Legal Officer Business Legal Affairs & Digital Transformation, Deputy General Counsel, Deputy Group Head of Legal, Deputy Head of Legal, Director Corporate Governance & Securities Market, Director General, GC and Head of Corporate Affairs, GC for Litigation and Contentious Regulatory, GC Group Legal, General Counsel, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Group General Counsel, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, Group Head of Legal, Group Legal Director, Head of Legal, Head of Legal – Operations, Head of Legal & Compliance – Corporates, Legal Operations & Technology Services, Regional General Counsel
From Europe’s largest organisations:
Admiral Group, Airbus, Allied Universal International, Alstom, Anglo American, Associated British Foods, Atlas Elektronik, Auto Trader, Avast, Aveva, AXA, BAE Systems, Barclays, Barratt Developments, Belvedere Legal, Bestway Retail, BHP, BNP Paribas Real Estate, BT Group, Bupa, Centrica, Compass Group, Continental, Deutsche Bank, Dexia, Diageo, E.ON UK, Eni SpA, Financial Conduct Authority, Flight Centre Travel Group, Fortnum & Mason, Fresenius Medical Care, GKN Aerospace, Government Legal Department, Groupe BPCE, GSK Consumer Healthcare, Haleon, Halma, Hargreaves Lansdown, Harsco Environmental, Hays, HM Treasury, Inmarsat, Jet2, Kier Group, Kingfisher, Kingspan, Kodak Alaris, Konica Minolta, Lloyds Banking Group, Maersk, McLaren Automotive, Meggitt, Meta, Metro Bank, Mitsubishi Electric, National Grid, National Trust, Nestlé
]]>Here, Charles shares the average day in the job, as well as his interests and hobbies in the third instalment of Laurence Simons’ ‘Life in the Day’ series.
]]>I was introduced to LSS by a Group General Counsel of a well-known pharmaceuticals business that I had placed in 2020.
What does your role encompass?
My role is focused on building our legal, compliance and privacy search practice on a global scale and across a variety of sectors.
What projects are you currently working on?
I am working on a number of active projects, including advising a venture capital fund on a Vice President search, and a privately held real estate investment business on a senior legal hire.
Who do you work most closely with?
I work closely with Senior Associate, Cameron Pearce and members of our Business Support function, who assist with each search project.
What do you enjoy about your work?
I enjoy the breadth of work we are involved in across all sectors. This year we have been involved in searches across aerospace, manufacturing, financial services and technology.
]]>In this second instalment of Summing Up, the legal podcast, Greerson McMullen shares his journey to becoming General Counsel and the importance of male allyship in the industry.
]]>In this instalment of Laurence Simons 'Life in the Day' Series, Anu shares what her average day looks like as well as her interests and hobbies.
]]>As the Head of Business Support and Delivery, my role at LS is to support and lead on the Talent Acquisition and Delivery part of the search. Each day, I help manage the candidate cycle from beginning to end by researching, sourcing, gathering market intel, and creating relationships. I am responsible for identifying and developing effective screening and assessment tools for ensuring delivery is consistent and of a high standard. In addition to Talent Acquisition, I also lead and inspire our Business Support team and mentor our junior Talent Acquisition and Delivery associates.
What projects are you currently working on?
A very exciting part of my role is the variety of work I get involved on. At any given time, I could be working on a senior legal role in Switzerland along with a Senior Privacy position based out of Singapore, a legal & compliance role based in Italy and in Japan. Apart from search-related tasks, I am also involved in some internal projects where I get to work with teams across different offices.
Who do you work most closely with?
I work really closely with the Chief Commercial Officer, Angela Floydd along with the Talent Acquisition & Delivery Associate, Henry Thompson. I work closely with some other members of teams too where I am part of different project teams.
What do you enjoy about your work?
I truly enjoy the variety of work but I mostly enjoy working with candidates and speaking to them about what their career aspirations are and how I can help to achieve them. I find it truly rewarding when I am able to connect a candidate to a role they never thought existed, and how that connection then changes their career trajectory.
]]>Can you tell us a little more about the city you live in?
I live in Dubai, UAE. Dubai is a vibrant city that is home to over 200 nationalities. Dubai has an unparallel scope for possibility and innovation. I grew up in Dubai and it has always been a home to me. As one of the safest cities, Dubai is a great place to raise families. With a high number of expats and a vibrant array of cultures and religions, Dubai is a truly global city.]]>I work from home. I have a setup with a desk and chair with two screens that keep me from working on the couch.
]]>In this instalment of 'Life in the Day', Clare shares what her average day looks like as well as her interests and hobbies.
]]>I am based in our London office and we moved over the Summer to a new location in Watling Street, close to St. Paul’s. The team chose it from a shortlist delivered by my EA, Jess and April who has responsibility for the London office. They used the budget to great impact, with branded walls, and the colour palette of the LS brand is reflected throughout. To me, details are hugely important in an office. They matter. It sets the tone. Not just the policy parts – e.g., clear desk every night before leaving – but also having the space rise up to greet you. Flowers and plants, the look, feel and smell of a place all impact on how we work. We have a fully hybrid policy at LS, which means the team can work in the office or wherever they chose, which to me makes it even more important that the office should be somewhere you want to be.
How did you come to be the Chief Executive Officer at Laurence Simons?
I was headhunted in September 2015 to be Global Managing Director of Laurence Simons when we were part of a PE-backed group of specialist recruitment businesses including accountancy, marketing, HR and IT. In 2017, the opportunity presented itself to lead a management buy-out which was completed in March 2018, and I became the CEO of this brilliant group of people at Laurence Simons.
What does your role encompass?
As CEO I have responsibility to build a long-term, profitable, and sustainable specialist legal executive search business. To do that it is about ensuring that the right people are in the right roles and to empower them to deliver. My number one priority is to build and grow the LS team. My role also involves meeting new potential clients and candidates, collaborators, and contacts, and understanding how these can cross-pollinate to create something greater than the sum of the parts. That’s exciting and something I love.
What projects are you currently working on?
Nothing that I can share here!
]]>Typically, CEOs work hand in glove with their CFOs and it is no different for me. Carrie-Jo Baker comes to us via the CFO Centre which I can whole heartedly recommend. Our sector is referred to as human-capital by finance folk, and as such People and Culture are at our core, therefore my CPO is also on my speed dial. I try to speak to someone from a different business unit every day and see how their day is going. Lastly, but not at all least, my fantastic EA Jess – a fellow Yorkshire woman and who makes my days better, easier, and smoother. She runs my e-mail in-box, which means I get thinking time back; she also has an extraordinary discipline-driven work ethic. She is fully remote which means we start each day with a 15 min teams call and compare to-do lists. She keeps me sane!
What do you enjoy about your work?
At our core the work we do at LS changes peoples’ lives by ensuring that we match the right candidate to the right role, as mandated by our clients. We get this right by using a powerful combination of experience, insight, psychometrics, and structured methodology. Getting the best legal and compliance talent for a company means that that function will become more impactful, delivering better results for the company, allowing people to thrive in that role. And that is what I enjoy most. Learning about how the placements my team make across the world have enhanced the life of the person we have placed and the company that they are working for.
How do you socialize with the team?
I am very lucky that we have a social committee in our London office and I turn up to whatever they are organising, schedule permitting. This has ranged from crazy golf to wine tasting. When I am visiting colleagues in one of our other offices, I try to have a lunch or dinner with my team.
]]>
]]>In this instalment of 'Life in the Day', Carolina shares what her average day looks like as well as her interests and hobbies.
]]>In the middle of 2019, I was rethinking my career as a lawyer and decided to make a life-changing move. A friend of mine asked me if I had ever considered Talent Acquisition (which I hadn’t), as he thought my profile and skills would suit the job. I decided to talk to another friend, also a partner at a law firm, who happened to be Laurence Simons’ client. He put me in contact with Ricardo Chazin (our private practice Director LatAm). The idea was to get acquainted with the day-to-day then make a decision. But, as Ricardo said a few days later, the “stars seemed to have aligned” and a big project was about to start at Laurence Simons. Time met opportunity and I have been here for over a year now – and I love it!
What does your role encompass?
My job is to assist my clients in forming their legal teams in both the private practice and in-house markets in Brazil and Latin America. This includes understanding the clients' needs, searching for the most suitable talents, interviewing candidates, and assisting during the whole search process. I am also responsible for prospecting new clients. Therefore, every day is very dynamic: from searching to interviewing, attending meetings, and representing Laurence Simons at events.
What projects are you currently working on?
In the private practice sector, I am currently looking for a Corporate partner for one of the largest law firms in Brazil and for some senior associates in the Oil & Gas, Insurance and Dispute Resolution teams. In the in-house market, we have recently placed two legal managers in Chile: one at a logistics company and another at a pharmaceutical company. We are negotiating a few positions in Latin America too, so more projects might soon be on the way.
]]>My favourite part about my job is the impact we can have on people's lives. When we find a good match between candidates and clients, not only do we assist in improving their teams, but we also change the candidates' lives. The way I see it, working in Talent Acquisition is also selling dreams and opportunities and that's what I love most about it.
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]]>“At the very minimum, there is an awareness of it (diversity, equity and inclusion). And even those who don’t completely get it are all aware that they ought to. I think there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done everyday by everybody.”This rings true when compared with the poll results above - many men feel they are active allies but their female colleagues perceive it differently. As Chris notes, even those who do not completely understand DE&I are aware that they ought to. Whilst many support gender inclusion and equity, many lack the situational awareness to see gender discrimination and harassment in their day-to-day work [2]. An area to consider when looking at this discrepancy between male and female perception is age. In a study conducted between Thomson Reuters and Penn Law, it found the following responses from men within the legal sector from different generations:
“For 50+ men, Pendleton states: “There is a large backlash and fundamental misunderstanding of how women’s rights to not be harassed do not equal a lessening of men’s rights. For men age 30-49, the #MeToo movement has created feelings of fear and trepidation on how to properly interact with women in the new era. For men under 30, Pendleton notes that “men of this generation have an easier time grappling with and engaging with protecting women and showing them the respect they deserve.”There is some good news for the future: by 2031, 31% of the workforce will be made up of Gen Z employees [3], meaning the emerging Millennial and Gen Z mindsets will become more current and considered within the workplace. Although not necessarily in positions of power yet they will be able to influence and move the debate forward from taking pause, to paying attention and ultimately towards action. In our daily work at LS, we see all our clients looking at their culture and work practices to ensure that they can retain this talent. Gen Zers want purpose and will be loyal to companies who embody this, alongside lived DE&I policies. However, today’s reality is that most Chiefs and leaders in organisations are in the other two age categories. The hands on the levers of power are still – with notable exceptions – mostly older, white men. How can these leaders become allies? Create a situational awareness learning plan and then, by drawing on the (re)learned awareness of the importance of this topic, act on it. Boldy. This is a call to action to many brilliant, hesitant, uninformed, curious, uncertain, brave older (and younger – we won’t be ageist!) men. We need your help and support to #EmbraceEquity and become our allies. Let’s get practical about what you can do with the help of Dr. Brad Johnson and Dr. David Smith, Here’s how you can build your situational awareness and become an active ally:
Since the pandemic, according to McKinsey 2.3 million women have left the workforce in the U.S [4]. This is also reflected in the UK, where 35% of working mothers lost hours or their jobs due to the lack of childcare during the pandemic [5]. Childcare is not a female-only domain. We know that much more work needs to be done for parents and parenthood to allow all families to thrive. There is work to be done here by allies supporting and promoting policies to allow women to stay in work.
#EmbraceEquity: We need men to be a part of the conversation as they are part of the solution. The time to learn is now. Develop your situational awareness so that, as Chris Watson said, “…when the call goes around for support - I am there for support”.
References:
[1] https://hbr.org/2022/10/research-men-are-worse-allies-than-they-think
[2] https://hbr.org/2021/02/male-allyship-is-about-paying-attention
[3] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/01/15/antsy-gen-zs-want-wellness-rooms-pronouns-lots-time/?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-telegraph&utm_content=later-32335113&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio
[4] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/nine_tips_for_being_a_male_ally_at_work
[5] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/how-has-the-coronavirus-pandemic-affected-women-in-work/
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